Death Plunge: ISIS throws gay men off buildings under guise of Sharia law

ISIS militants publicly executed three unidentified men by throwing them off the roof a building in Mosul as hundreds gathered to watch.The condemned were held by their feet and dropped head first.

The Islamic State has released a series of horrifying photos showing blindfolded men tossed head-first off a building because, ISIS claimed, they were gay.

In photos obtained by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), ISIS militants are shown publicly executing the unidentified men for violating Sharia law.

A crowd of spectators, including children, was gathered below the 100-foot building in Mosul as the men were held by their ankles and then sent plunging to their deaths. The photos were believed to be recent.

The photos were released by ISIS on Wednesday via social media and in a report by the terror group entitled, “Implementation of the Punishment of Those Who Have Committed Acts of Homosexuality” on the jihadist online forum Shumoukh Al-Islam, according to the research group.

The terror group also recently has employed “flirt squads,” in which militants pose as homosexuals in an attempt to lure gay men out into the open for death by public execution.

“ISIS wants the Muslim world to know that it is executing gays because it displays their credentials as enforcers of Sharia law,” Ryan Mauro, a national security analyst for The Clarion Project told FoxNews.com. “There is widespread anti-homosexual sentiment in the Muslim world because of the belief that Sharia requires the execution of gays. Homosexuals are often not only seen as harming themselves but as dire threats to society as a whole.”

The extremist group’s hatred of gays has been widely known, with reports of public executions coming as early as last December.

In recent months, ISIS has publicly executed men accused of homosexuality in both Iraq and Syria by not only throwing them off tall buildings, but by burning them alive or stoning them to death. The accused are often shot if they happen to survive the brutal methods, according to MEMRI.

“You won't see a significant backlash to ISIS' crimes because there is no gay rights movement in the Muslim world and the gay rights advocates in the West are usually silent when it comes to persecution overseas,” Mauro said. “From ISIS' perspective, they only stand to gain from executing gays and telling the world about it.”

Horrified activists in Syria have said in recent reports that ISIS fighters have taken their intolerance to a new low. Photos on social media show the doomed, blindfolded men being hugged just before they are executed.

"ISIS has never forgiven one person," Abu Mohammed Hussam, of the activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently said to FoxNews.com in May. “They kill people and then say... God will forgive. They hug the men to show the people who are watching that ISIS is not at fault."

In addition to homosexuality, ISIS considers several so-called offenses punishable by execution including blasphemy and consorting with the enemy. The Islamic State also publicly stoned a woman to death after she was accused of adultery.

Perry Chiaramonte is a producer with Fox News Channel's Investigative Unit. Follow him on Twitter at @perrych